Philippians 4

There was a guest speaker at church today - Peter Brownhill. He's the head of "Youth with a Mission" in Perth. He preached a sermon that had a simple bottomline - though it's one that we often overlook in our hectic lives. He preached on intimacy with God leading to fruitfulness. The main passage was John 15: 1-13 (The Vine & the Branches).

Right after his message, my Pastor encouraged us to take a practical step to apply what we learnt during the sermon. He gave us some passages to read, and there and then, the whole church did quiet time together.

One of the passages were Philippians 4: 6-7.

I normally try to read a chapter every night, rather systematically. And it so happened that my chapter for today was Philippians 4! A mere coincidence? I think not.

Here are some of the verses from that chapter that spoke to me.

v.6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God

v.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

v.8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whateveris right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

v.9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.


v. 12 ... I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

v. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.


It's amazing, isn't it? How the Word of God can still speak directly to hearts even in this day and age though it was written hundreds of years ago! How can anyone say it is irrelevant or out-dated?!?

The Word of God is timeless.

Definition of Timeless (from answers.com):
1. it's independent of time (eternal)
2. Unaffected by time (ageless)

Mark 13:31 "Heaven & earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

It's also amazing how God speaks, especially when you pray and wait expectantly to hear

something from Him!

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How time flies... it's the last day of September.. I'll have to wait a whole year before I can sing "September" again!!

ba de ya, say do you remember....

... never was a cloudy day...

Btw, the sky's finally clearing. And it hasn't been a cloudy day for the past few days! Yea!

Australian Idol

I've got so many pictures and videos to share!!! So I shall start with the videos... 3 week's worth of Australian Idol!

Top 12 - Contestant's Choice

Carl Riseley - A jazzed up version of "Waltzing Matilda". What a coincidence! During the week my ELACS teacher played the folk version of "Waltzing Matilda" for us (It's probably more famous than the Australian National Anthem!) Then on Sunday, Carl sang it! I thought it was an interesting twist to a funny song. Lol. I never knew the words to the song till I read it during ELACS.

"And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong

You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me."

So will you come a Waltzing Matilda with me??


Ben McKenzie - Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning". What happened to the signature piano riff??

Natalie Gauci - Powderfinger's "On My Mind."

Jacob Butler - The Killer's "When We Were Young"

The performance of the night has to go be..... Matt Corby's performance of "The Scientist" by Coldplay!!!! I loved (and still do) it!

Esther and I kept on singing "The Scientist" in school... though we only (barely) know the 1st verse & the chorus. We love singing the "Ah ooo ooo ooo ooo" part!

The Scientist

- by Coldplay

Come up to meet you, tell you I'm sorry

You don't know how lovely you are

I had to find you

Tell you I need you

Tell you I've set you apart

Tell me your secrets

And ask me your questions

Oh take me back to the start

Running in circles

Coming up tales

Heads on the science apart

Nobody said it was easy

Oh it's such a shame for us to part

Nobody said it was easy

No one ever said it would be this hard

Oh, let's go back to the start

I was just guessing
The numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart

Questions of science

Science and progress

Do not speak as loud as my heart

Tell me you love me

Come back and haunt me

Oh, when I rush to the start

Running in circles

Chasing our tails

Comin' back as we are

Nobody said it was easy

Oh, it's such a shame for us to part

Nobody said it was easy

No one ever said it would be so hard

I’m going back to the start... Oh ooh ooh ooh ooh

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Top 11 - Rock Night

Rock night was just so-so.

Mark da Costa - He's the only rocker in the competition. He sang AC/DC's "High Voltage"

Ben McKenzie - I'm not super crazy over this performance of Little Birdy's "Bodies". But I got requests from a few people to have it uploaded.

Matt Corby - Lez Zepplin's "The Immigrant Song".

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Top 10 - Disco Night

I only watched the last 3 performances yesterday cause I had to study for Chemistry and Physics tests!

When I found out last week that yesterday was gonna be Disco Night... I immediately thought of the Earth, Wind & Fire song - "September" *the video is in my previous post*

I thought Matt would sound good in the song. I could totally imagine him singing it! In the mean time, Esther, Sarah (Esther's younger sis), L^2 (Leon & Leo) and I are SEPTEMBER fans! HAHA!

Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

Carl - Carl ended up singing "September". I think he did quite good. Maybe I'm biased... cause I really like the song! lolx. Interesting fact: According to Marcia (Aussie Idol judge), "September" was written to sound like horns! The ba de ya part I suppose.

Matt - He sang "Got to get you in my life". Though he didn't sing "September"... at least he sang an Earth, Wind & Fire song! Yea! He got a TOUCHDOWN for it! The 1st TOUCHDOWN of the season!

For those who do not know, a TOUCHDOWN is given by Mark (one of the judges) gives to outstanding performances.

Australian Idol Semi Finals & Wildcards

First, I must say that I'm VERY disappointed that Lyall Adonis didn't get into wildcards. I can name 3 people (but I shan't name them here) who I think robbed Lyall of his place!

Anyways... 3 out of 4 wildcards who I predicted would get through to the Top 12 did get through!

Here are their performances:

1. My favourite female contestant: Natalie Gauci. I've liked her since I saw her audition. Hopefully the Australian public warms up to her soon.



2. Daniel Mifsud. I though he was a shoo-in to the Top 12. He has been a judges favourite from the very start. Plus, he got quite a lot of air time during the audition and theatre rounds.



3. Mark de Costa. He's the only rocker in the competition. One of the judges said that he's the best performer in the whole competition. Not exactly my style of music, but I knew he'd get in. Btw, he's the oldest in the Top 12! He said that he'll be the "father" and Jacob (the next oldest) will be the "mother" in the house which the finalists stay at! Haha. He raises the average age of the Top 12 to errr... 12? Haha! Of course I'm exaggerating! But there is one 16-year-old and two 17 year-olds in the Top 12!



I still think that 2 of the Top 12 robbed Lyall of his spot! But oh wells....


Here are some other Semi Finals videos

1. Matt Corby - I Wish. He sings another Stevie Wonder song, but I'm not complaining. How I wish (pun not intended) he'll also sing "Lately"!




2. Matt Corby's Introduction Clip
I really like what he said,

"I wasn't thinking about getting through, I was just thinking about touching people."





3. Jacob Butler. He's one of the 2 guys from the 1st Semi Final who got into Top 12. While watching this introductory clip, I had a gut feeling that he'll sing Chasing Cars - he did.



4. Lyall Adonis - Desperado











BEN
DAN
MATT
NAT



Those are the 4 people whom I'm rooting for in the Top 12! PLUS, their names rhyme! COOL, eh?